Those Gapers Blockers are always starting something hip and new, yes?

This week's theme at the relatively new Chicago-based Out of 5 blog is "Covers that Eclipsed the Originals." I'm not saying I agree with all of the choices, but free covers is free covers. Right?

(Jeff, I can't believe you didn't send me a note when the blog started! Keep me in the loop, kids.)

But for now we are young, let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see

Terry Edwards and the Scapegoats "The Hardest Walk" (Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
Funny, I didn't realize how much I needed a JAMC cover that sounds like it's being played by Rob Lowe's character in St. Elmo's Fire until it presented itself to me. How I lived this long without it is beyond me. The album from whence it comes, Terry Edwards Presents the birth of the Scapegoats* is chock-full of weirdo sax covers, such as a Napalm Death medley, among others. (Originally available on an all-JAMC-cover EP. Crazy.)

Slut "Only You" (Yazoo/Yaz cover)
I don't know much about Slut—and I'm feeling too lazy to Google them—but I like this.

Matt Pond PA "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)
This is one of my favorite songs in the world competently covered by indie chamber popsters Matt Pond PA on their album Winter Songs, which also features decent covers of Neil Young's "Winterlong," Richard Thompson's "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" and a strange somber cover of the Lindsey Buckingham-penned "Holiday Road."

A toast to my own reunion.

Dolly Parton "Help" (Beatles cover)
Posting a Beatles cover yesterday reminded me that I've been meaning to post this one as well. I love Dolly.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes "I Sing the Body Electric" (from Fame)
As much as I love covers, I used to have this thing against all-cover acts like Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. I'm working on opening my mind, and there's no better song to inspire me than this.

Indians in Moscow "The Price of Love" (Everly Brothers cover)
A lesser-known and short-lived act, Indians in Moscow could have been right up there with [insert name of you favorite somewhat obscure overly dramatic atmospheric quasi-gothy early-'80s new-wave act here]. You know, kind of like a Missing Persons with a lead singer who could actually sing. (Sorry, Dale, but you know it's true.) If you hear this and find yourself thinking, "Hey, I could get into this shit," there are free downloads to be had here at C-Net and at this passionate fan site.

Fountains of Wayne "Better Things" (Kinks cover)
I haven't quite forgiven Fountains of Wayne for the godawfulness of "Stacy's Mom," but I'm willing to take note of the fact that they once offered better things.

We'll always be together, however far it seems.

Bran Van 3000 "Cum On Feel The Noize" (Slade cover)
I knew that when I returned to make good on my Minimum 2 Songs A Day In October promise I would use a version of "Cum on Feel the Noize" to start things off, but I wasn't sure which. But today when I was finally faced with the decision, it became clear: Pick what you know and love. While this track isn't necessarily my favorite on the album, Bran Van's debut album Glee is start-to-finish one of my favorite albums of all time. It's the perfect "It's bright and sunny and I'm in a fucking great mood" album and it genre hops like the badass muthafucka it is. If you're down with Glee, well, then you're down with me.

Lali Puna "Together in Electric Dreams" (Human League cover)
I am currently obsessed with the glitchy lush starkness (oxymoronic, I know) of Lali Puna. Perhaps you should be as well.

Dar Williams feat. Ani DiFranco "Comfortably Numb" (Pink Floyd cover)
Dar is my girl. You don't even know. Like the aforementioned Glee, her Mortal City is an album I never get sick of that cheers me up every time I hear it. It opened my mind to folk music at a time in my life when I otherwise wouldn't have given it the time of day. Such a pretty voice. Such clever lyrics. Perfect. Her latest effort, My Better Self, from whence this track comes, is politically driven and features a slew of equally genius guest artists. If you're into what you hear here, the entire album is available for preview here at Download.com and features a cover of Neil Young's "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere," on which she duets with Marshall Crenshaw. She also has a cover of the Beatles' "You Won't See Me" on This Bird has Flown, the forthcoming (Release Date: Oct. 25) indie/folksy Razor & Tie tribute to Rubber Soul.

Low "Nowhere Man" (Beatles cover)
Hey! Speaking of the forthcoming Razor & Tie tribute to Rubber Soul, perhaps I should let you enjoy what is, in my opinion, one of its finest tracks (not a difficult task to complete, really, given its less-than-innovative companions—sorry, hipsters!) by our old friends Low. I'm so glad Low finally popped themselves up a bit. Now I can listen to them without wanting to slit my writs. Well, less than usual anyhow.

Unrelated to covers but still cool: Threadless is having one of its wonderful Everything is $10 sales until Monday. The clown puking shirt shall be mine!!! (Well, except that it's sold out. Sigh.)

Cover for a cause.

The dB's, the old-school power-popsters who've recently reunited and are playing the Hideout Block Party this weekend, are offering a download of a new cover of "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" for those who contribute via the PayPal link on their site to the Katrina relief effort. Pretty cool, huh?

Techno for an answer?

Okay, I admit I don't know what makes something techno versus electronica versus trance versus plain ol' dance music. Just when I think I have it all figured out, someone tells me I'm wrong. A die-hard member of the Ministry of sound, I'm not.

Boogie Pimps "Sunny" (comp. Bobby Hebb)
This one's my favorite.

Royal Gigolos "California Dreamin' (Tek House Extend Mix)" (The Mamas and the Papas cover)
Russians love to dance too! Check out this page to sample other mixes of this track or to watch the video.

Linus Loves feat. Sam Obernik "Stand Back (Linus Loves Friday's Child Remix)" (Stevie Nicks cover)

Firewater "Is That All There Is?" (comp. Leiber and Stoller)
Okay, this isn't techno or electronica or whatever, but I've always loved this song and I like this version and I thought it was the perfect song to end this paltry post. And it's definitely pro-dancing.

Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge.

I don't have time to be witty or make many comments. Here's what you're getting: some rock, some punk, some swing/rockabilly, some bluegrass, a Scandinavian experimental take on country, etc. Not necessarily in that order.

Asylum Street Spankers "Paul Revere" (Beastie Boys cover)

The Flash Express "The Message" (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five cover)

Yeti Girl "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" (Marilyn Monroe cover)

Paul Westerberg and Joan Jett "Let's Do It" (comp. Cole Porter)

Suzi Quatro "Born to Run" (Bruce Springsteen cover)

Susanna and the Magical Orchestra "Jolene"< (Dolly Parton cover)

Dick Brave and the Backbeats "Walk this Way" (Aerosmith cover)

Claude François "J'ai Joué et J'ai Perdu (I Fought the Law and the Law Won)" (Bobby Fuller Four cover)
"I played and I lost"? Um, close, I guess.

Bad Livers "Lust for Life" (Iggy Pop cover)

I have no choice; I hear your voice.

Okay, I know I'm always saying how I won't make guarantees that I'll post stuff other people have sent me, but I'm busy in my work life and lazy in my home life and you'll take these and you'll like them!!! (Note: You may not actually like them.) All were sent to me by readers sometime in the past few months. Some I had already, a few I didn't. (It happens!) Sorry if you sent me something and it's not on today's list. I'm also sorry I'm too lazy to research who sent what.

But before we get to those, I'd be remiss if I didn't point you in the direction of a website featuring the Tuvan punk (you read right) stylings of Albert Kuvezin and Yat-Kha. Head over there to download a few tracks, including one of the most unique "Love Will Tear Us Aparts" ever.

Crackout "Caught Out There" (Kelis cover)
Definitely raised my eyebrows in that "really, someone like this covered something like that???" way when it hit my inbox.

The Entertainment System "Bigmouth Strikes Again" (Smiths cover)
My poor friend Mikey is forever trying to find covers I've never heard and was very depressed after sending this to me that I already had this Texas band's cover ('cause I had found it here one day). Sorry, Mikey. I still love you.

PJ Pooterhoots "No Go [I Can't Go for That]" (Hall & Oates cover)
You know, it's not bad. Except it gets the original stuck in my head and I hate the original—not necessarily based on the quality of the song itself but based on the bad memories it conjures up, which are shudder-inducing. What can I say? Age 9 was rough for me.

Now It's Overhead "Book of Love" (Magnetic Fields cover)
I had a feeling that the Magnetic Fields post a few days ago would result in a slew of comments and e-mails chiding me for not picking the right covers and/or suggesting tracks I already had but just didn't feel like posting, but I took the risk anyhow 'cause I live on the edge, man. Consider this an acknowledgement that, yes, I know there are many more to be had. Speaking of, I forgot to mention this page full of Magnetic Fields covers as performed by The Wake in my last Mag Fields post.

Glitterbug "Like a Prayer" (Madonna cover)
Surprisingly poptastic.

Johnny Domino "Forever in Blue Jeans" (Neil Diamond cover)
One of my favorite Diamond tracks. Johnny also posts a lot of covers over on his blog. If you're not already reading it, you should be.

Oranger "Vegetables" (Beach Boys cover)
Jeez, what was Van Dyke Parks on? I needs me some of that.

Rilo Kiley "Let My Love Open the Door" (Pete Townshend cover)
Sing along with everyone's favorite band of somewhat depressing cutesters.

Eve Massacre "3L3CTR1C DR3AMS" (Human League cover)
If this were a friend's 4-track project and I were super high, I'd probably like this a lot more.

Stanford Counterpoint "Don't Speak" (No Doubt cover)
College acappella groups. Is there anything they can't geek up?

Mystery singer] "Ask Me" (Elvis Presley cover)
So my stepdad tells me that a friend/colleague (whose identity I shall protect) of his has gotten really into karaoke, going to karaoke bars many times a week and competing in contests. I immediately insist that we have to go watch him sometime because I live for spectacles, especially karaoke spectacles. (So far no luck!) My stepdad then breaks the news that his friend/colleague has gone so far as to record his own CD. Giddy like a little girl, I beg him to get a hold of one for me. Again, no luck, but about a month later this arrived via e-mail from my stepdad's address. All I can say is I've certainly heard far worse karaoke regulars. That, of course, is not saying much.

The day is beautiful and so are you.

Recently the Arcade Fire (a band I otherwise quite enjoy) mutilated my favorite Magnetic Fields song, "Born on a Train," and lots of other blogs posted it and called it good. It freaked me out. They didn't even start at the beginning! And it sounded like a bad Tom Waits impression. Shudder. I'm not saying all of the covers here are great, by any means, but none of them (not even the ones by Peter Gabriel or Chrash!) make me as angry as the Arcade Fire cover, which, I'm sorry, is so bad I'm not even going to post for you to hear how bad it is.

Aaaanyhooo, Stephin Merritt writes wonderfully deadpan songs about the true nature of human emotions and I love him. Though not quite as much as some.

!!! "Take Ecstasy With Me" (Magnetic Fields cover)
Note the proper spelling of ecstasy. Ecstacy is one of my biggest pet peeves.

Divine Comedy "With Whom to Dance" (Magnetic Fields cover)
The morose and acerbic covering the morose and acerbic always works for me.

Kelly Hogan "Papa Was a Rodeo" (Magnetic Fields cover)
Viva la Chicago-based alt-country!

Evelyn "Smoke and Mirrors" (Magnetic Fields cover)
Does anyone know anything about Evelyn? This was on a Teenbeet Records sampler from 1998, but the liner notes don't tell me much. Whatever. It's okay.

Superchunk "100,000 Fireflies" (Magnetic Fields cover)
I like Superchunk.

Peter Gabriel "Book of Love" (Magnetic Fields cover)
I've said it before, but I hate Peter Gabriel. Yes, even "In Your Eyes." Hate him. This is from the soundtrack of some movie that totally sucked.

Kings of Convenience "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side" (Magnetic Fields cover)

Chrash "I Don't Want to Get Over You" (Magnetic Fields cover)
Whoa. I don't know what's worse, their cover or the "astute" diatribe that precedes it.

Mary Lou Lord "I Don't Want to Get Over You" (Magnetic Fields cover)
Here's a more palatable version.

Edit: An anonyomus poster just reminded me of a link I totally meant to add to this post but forgot because work got busy. You can find a handful of Mag Fields covers at It's Meaningless.

Have you never been mellow?

My Morning Jacket "Tyrone" (Erykah Badu cover)

Lori Carson "I Saw The Light" (Todd Rundgren cover)

The Early November "The Power of Love" (Huey Lewis and the News cover)

Feel the heat with somebody.

I wish I had more time/less of a life so I could point you in the direction of other MP3 blogs when they post covers, but I just don't. Although I'm making an exception today because I feel like it. Muppetpastor has a handful of "What the Fuck?" covers up right now, and you should head over there. David Byrne's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" is a favorite of mine.

I know the meaning of life—it doesn't help me a bit.

Sleeper "Other End of the Telescope" ('Til Tuesday cover)
I loved 'Til Tuesday well beyond the one-hit-wonderness of "Voices Carry." And I'm not alone, Elvis Costello liked them enough to co-write this song with Aimee Mann and it would up on TT's third album well before it was on any of Costello's own. Another band I liked a lot nearly a decade ago was Sleeper, one of the lesser-known (Stateside, anyhow) of the whole 1990s Brit-pop revolution.

Paul Anka "The Love Cats" (Cure cover)
Anka's whole Rock Swings album is pretty ace, but this is my favorite track by far.

Number One Cup "Here" (Pavement cover)
This is my favorite Pavement song covered by Number One Cup, a Chicago outfit that I saw a handful of times at Lounge Ax before it closed. This wasn't because I any really affinity for them (which is not to say that I disliked them, I just liked a lot of similar bands more), but instead was because a cute label rep I made out with from time to time got me into their shows for free. Ah. I miss the days when I was a whore for free music.

Jason Falkner "A Song from Under the Floorboards" (Magazine cover)
One of my favorite new-wave classics covered by one of my favorite people to hear doing covers. Nearly every line of this song could be a motto for my personality. Yay for songs that celebrate giving up!

Bodyjar "Your Racist Friend" (They Might be Giants cover)
A while back, I mentioned I was on the prowl for the We Might be Giants Too discs and since have hunted them both down. Um. Yeah. Not the best stuff on earth. This cover by Aussie punkers is the best track on them and I already had acquired a copy of it ages ago. My wait was for naught.

Babybird "I can Sing a Rainbow" (written by Arthur Hamilton)
File this under "I'm not quite sure I know why this exists." The colors in the lyrics are way off, and kid worth his or her salt could tell you that. How much orange do we need in a rainbow, Steve?

Clumsy Lovers "Open up Your Heart (And Let the Sunshine In)" (written by Carl Stuart Hamblen)
And while we're on the topic of children's classics, here's one of many songs TV helped me learn. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm couldn't talk, but they could sing this poppy little spiritual country ditty and become superstars, and as a child, I often would get this trapped in my head for weeks at a time. I like this version far better than Frente's, mostly because the voice of the chick from Frente gives me a toothache. Also, this puts a little country back in it and, regardless of how many twits say "I like all kinds of music ... except country," country rules.

Are you ready for the time of your life?

Sorry I'm so sporadic all the time. I was all stressed out the past few weeks with job-related woe, but now I'm back on track. I start a shiny new job in a few weeks, but until then, I suppose I'll have a little more time to post.

Today's random smattering involves songs that—either the original or the cover—make me nostalgic. But I guess that could be the theme of all my posts.

Herman Dune "Smalltown Boy" (Bronski Beat cover)
I'm a really big fan of Herman Dune, covers or no—although had it not been for his covers, I might not have learned about his original stuff.

Propaganda "Femme Fatale" (Velvet Underground cover)
Ah, Propaganda! Could this remind me more of gay boys I lusted after in the '80s? Probably not.

Kirsty MacColl "You Just Haven't Earned it Yet Baby" (Smiths cover)
Kirsty rules. I miss her. (I post lots of Smiths covers, don't I?)

The Detroit Cobras "Breakaway" (Irma Thomas cover, written by Jackie DeShannon)
Six degrees of picking covers: Kirsty always reminds me of Tracey Ullman (because Tracey covered Kirsty's "They Don't Know," of course) and when I think of Tracey, I remember her version of "Breakaway," which was my first introduction to the songs of Irma Thomas. The Detroit Cobras LOVE Irma Thomas. I think they've covered nearly every Irma Thomas hit.

They Might Be Giants "Maybe I Know" (Lesley Gore cover)
I've long been a fan of the 1960s girl-singer "I know my boyfriend is a jerk, but I just can't get enough of him" tracks. (See above as well.) This was always one of my favorites in the genre. In fact, nearly every song on Lesley Gore's greatest hits album is.

The Housemartins "Caravan of Love" (Isley Brothers cover)
Dorky, fey, British? Delicious.

The Number 12 Looks Like You "My Sharona" (The Knack cover)
Thanks to SoulSeek's "upload" feature, this wound up in my files when my pal Eric sent it my way. Yeah. It sounds like something he'd know about.

The Polecats "John, I'm Only Dancing" (David Bowie cover)
I had some sort of attack last week in which I absolutely had to listen to the Polecats' "Make a Circuit With Me" about 10 times in a row. I'm not sure where that impulse came from, but I did it and it jostled my memory of this.

Rasputina "Bad Moon Rising" (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
I used to make fun of Rasputina because I was mired in an anti-goth love of shoegaze and Brit-pop when I became aware of them, but in retrospect I don't hate them at all. This is pretty good.

St. Etienne "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (Neil Young cover)
I was in my sophomore year of college when St. Etienne's Foxbase Alpha came out and I remember heading out to Ozarka's in my winter coat to buy it. A few months later, I was listening to it and one of my annoying roommate's "boyfriends" overheard me playing it and said, "Man, that girl listens to weird shit." Heh. I think it was the most non-weird CD in my collection at the time.

Heads-up/reminder: I've received a lot of comments and e-mails lately with requests and/or questions on how readers can "submit" a song to the site. Um. Unfortunately, that's not really how I work this thing. As always, if you have a song you want me to know about or hear, feel free to send it my way, but I make no guarantees it will end up here. Keep in mind that my cover sickness is full-blown, and in most cases, I probably already have it and/or know about it and/or have ALREADY POSTED IT. Heh. People alerting me to songs I've already posted are my favorite.

Gray skies are gonna clear up!

Many thanks (uh, I think) to a Live Journal friend who pointed me in the direction of this collection of MP3s of every song ever sung by the Golden Girls. Be very afraid.

Push the button. Don't push the button.

I try not to post from work on a regular basis, but my contract is up here soon and I'm bored, so why the hell not? I've been a little too preoccupied lately with Flickr, so I wasn't able to come up with any theme for today's selection or find an entire album from which to cull gems, so back to the random smattering it is! Enjoy. (And, fellow Chicagoans, if your organization is looking for a hard-working smartass with great administrative and customer service skills and a wealth of useless information trapped inside her head, please let me know.)

Blondie "Out in the Streets (1975 demo version)" (Shangri-Las cover)
I love the Shangri-Las and I love old-school Blondie. This song gets caught in my head quite frequently.

The Ukrainians "Batyar (Bigmouth Strikes Again)" (Smiths cover)
From their Smiths cover EP Pisni Iz The Smiths, which features a handful of Ukrainian folk versions of classic Smiths songs.

Two Nice Girls "Cotton Crown" (Sonic Youth cover)
Lesbian folk singers covering Sonic Youth? Why not? From their album Like a Version, which also includes the Speed Racer theme song, among other odd covers and medleys.

Muse "Feeling Good" (Nina Simone cover)
Personally, I've tried and I just can't get into Muse, but I've been told I'm wrong by more than a few people.

Har Mar Superstar "Alone Again, Naturally" (Gilbert O'Sullivan cover)
Sean Na Na? Calvin Krime? Har Mar Superstar? Whoever. Personality disorders turn me on.

Cansei de Ser Sexy "Hollywood" (Madonna cover)
Someone reminded me of this in a comment a few entries back. I like it.

If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know.

These tracks come from the same mostly horrifying When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You'd Hear CD from whence the Ani DiFranco/Jackie Chan version of "Unforgettable" I posted here and the Billy Preston cover of "Girls on Film" I posted here.

The Connells "Insane in the Brain" (Cypress Hill cover)
The Connells always seemed like a band I should have been able to get into in the same way as I got into, say, Buffalo Tom or The Posies or Lloyd Cole or something, but I never could. At least I gave it the ol' college try.

Devo "Ohio" (Neil Young cover)
I listened to my dad's vinyl copy of "Freedom of Choice" quite a bit as a kid, and now it is mine. This isn't as good as anything on that album, but it's still one of the best tracks on this album.

Don Ho "Shock the Monkey" (Peter Gabriel cover)
My paternal grandfather was a professional golfer and he and my grandmother spent a few months every winter in Hawaii. They took me with them a few times, most notably when I was 2 1/2 (I was very excited by the half, you know). We spent some time on both Oahu and Maui and the story goes that one night they took me to a lounge where Don Ho was playing and I joined him on stage for "Tiny Bubbles." I vaguely remember the layout of the lounge and the candles on the table, but I don't remember what I'm certain was my stellar performance. However, I suspect it was probably a little better than this track.

Lesley Gore "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" (AC/DC cover)
I try to picture the call in which Lesley was asked to participate in this, and my brain implodes. Lesley is one of my favorite singers ever, but it's difficult for me to admit that after listening to this.

The Oak Ridge Boys "Carry On Wayward Son" (Kansas cover)
Heh. It's not saying much, but think this is my favorite cover on the album. I love those country gospel harmonies, what can I say?

Take a walk on the wiggly side.

All I know about Andrew Denton I learned right here. He's some dorky Australian personality with a radio show or something and he's put out a few "Musical Challenge" discs, not unlike the Like a Version discs referenced in the last post. Here are some of the most listenable tracks from them. Um, kinda.

The Wiggles "Walk on the Wild Side" (Lou Reed cover)
I was blissfully unaware of the existence of the Wiggles until I took up a babysitting gig while I was unemployed a few years ago. Man. Those guys creep me the hell out. But the kiddies seem to like them. Obviously, they've cleaned up the lyrics a bit.

Willie Nelson "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Nirvana cover)
It's too bad he sang so little of the song, I'd have liked it to go on longer.

Screaming Jets "My Heart Will Go On" (Celine Dion cover)
Unfortunately, I was working megastore music retail when Titanic came out and had to create a giant Christmastime Celine Dion display and endure hearing this song on the overhead speakers for months. On the plus side, we did get these ultra-cheap tacky little promotional "Le Coeur de la Mer" pendants to give out with a purchase of the soundtrack, which I wore en masse many times. You'd be surprised how fancy you can look wearing 15 of those at a time. I think I still have one somewhere; I should wear it more often.

Mark Lizotte "I Write the Songs" (Barry Manilow cover)
If you told me this was the Black Crowes, I'd probably believe you. An interesting take.

Gina Jeffreys "Kryptonite" (3 Doors Down cover)
3 Doors Down? ZZZZzzzz. Gina Jeffreys? Better than 3 Doors Down. As if that means anything.

Josh Joplin "Eye of the Tiger" (Survivor cover)
Eh, it's okay. Kinda reminds me of 3 Doors Down though.

The Delltones "Pretty Vacant" (Sex Pistols cover)
Doo-wop punk? I'm all for it.

Notice me. Take my hand.

Today I give you tracks from CDs put out by a few foreign (to me, anyhow) radio stations. Apparently the new rage is to get current local pop stars to cover songs old and new for albums to benefit various charities. And I'm, obviously, all for that. I'm sharing tracks from two different albums today, and I have others for the days to follow. I think you'll mostly be pleasantly surprised. At least I am.

From Ireland's today FM Even Better Than the Real Thing Vol. 2 (I posted tracks from the first volume way back when):

Bell x1 "Like I Love You/Slow" (Justin Timberlake/Kylie Minogue cover medley)
This is the first I've heard of Bell x1 and I'm very intrigued. They sound so sexy. Or maybe it's the Sixteen Horsepowerish banjo feel. Or the bottle of wine I've had tonight has gone to my head, among other places.

Mickey Harte "I Don't Want You Back" (Eamon cover)
It'd be better with the curse words intact—"feck"?—but go Mickey! Anyone who could make this song somewhat listenable is okay by me.

Glen Hansard & Colm MacConlomaire of The Frames "Every Time" (Britney Spears cover)
The original was always a huge guilty pleasure for me, even if they did remove the blood from the bathtub scene in the video. Britney running so earnestly in little else but a man's white oxford shirt? It touched me, y'all. This version as well makes me want to make out with hot Irish guys. (Yeah. I shouldn't drink so much before posting.)

Vyvienne Long "Seven Nation Army" (White Stripes cover)
I need more cellists in my life. My sole dreamy cellist friend, Joey, moved to California a few years ago. Whenever I smell sandalwood I think of him. Hand claps, on the other hand, remind me of participating in Catholic-school sing-along songs that involved ridiculous hand motions and whatnot. I'm so glad I'm not Catholic anymore.

From Australia's Triple J station's Like A Version:

The Pictures "Milkshake" (Kelis cover)
A lo-fi garagey "Baba O'Reilly"-sounding Kelis cover? And not changing all the boys to girls? Yes, please, a thousand times yes! (Although I do hate it when a band doesn't even find out the lyrics before covering a song. "I want it all"? Um. No. It's "Warm it up." Guys are the worst at guessing lyrics, I swear. no offense.)

Darren Hanlon "Don't Stop" (Fleetwood Mac cover)
I feel similarly about this Hanlon chap as I do about Bell x1, which is weird since one of my many idiosyncrasies is an irrational anti-attraction I have to Australian men. No, I don't know where it comes from either. I'm nuts.

The Cat Empire "Hotel California" (Eagles cover)
Hotel California was one of the first albums in my dad's record collection I began listening to nonstop once I was old and alert enough to realize how fucking awesome my dad's record collection was. (Seriously, how cool my dad is still freaks me out regularly, people.) This version is my introduction to the Cat Empire, whom I seem to like despite my aversion to reggae-influenced acts. (A few ska bands aside.) French lyrics and what I believe to be an accordion help it. It's very Moulin Rogue meets Buena Vista Social Club. (Heh, and they said I couldn't be a music critic!) I like this better than the songs available on their site, but they seem like a band that would put on a good show. Even if they do look like frat boys. (Not that I have anything against frat boys. I'm sure some have redeeming qualities. Really.)

Nothing can move us ... we should be moving.

Politically, I have a few issues with the Live 8 performances, but I don't maintain this blog to engage in political debates. Therefore, I will direct you to this page, which features QuickTime movies of all of the Live 8 performances—a handful of which were covers. (Rumor has it that you can watch all the performances at AOL.com as well, but I'm sure as hell not heading over there or linking to them to find out.)

Here are the covers I had the patience to root out that you can check for once you get there (there are probably more than those listed, but my eyes glazed over after a while):

In London:

Ms. Dynamite covering Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"

Robbie Williams covering Queen's "We Will Rock You"

Dido singing the Neneh Cherry part of "7 Seconds" with Youssou N'Dour

In Philadelphia:

Maroon 5 covering Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World"

In Berlin:

Die Totenhosen covering the McCoys' "Hang on Sloopy"

Green Day covering Queen's "We are the Champions"

Juan Diego Flores" singing Rodgers and Hammerstein's "You'll Never Walk Alone"

Roxy Music doing their version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy"

Otto Waalkes singing Billy Joel's "Piano Man"

In Paris:

Craig David and Tina Arena dueting the Beatles' "Come Together"

David Hallyday covering the Knack's "My Sharona"

In Rome:

Noa covering Alan Parsons Project's "Eye in the Sky"

Thursday night your stocking needed mending.

I'm currently loving the Thai psych/garage madness (both the covers and the originals) of Thai Beat A Go-Go Volumes 1 and 2. Fans of the 5.6.7.8's are likely to enjoy. Here's a little sampler:

Payom Moogda "Tamai Dern Sae (What'd I Say)" (Ray Charles cover)
Apparently this track's Thai title translates into "Why do you walk like a drunkard?" Awesome.

Sakarin Boonpit "Kotmorn Yoop Yap (All Shook Up)" (Elvis Presley cover)

Sodai Chaengkij "Shake Baby Shake" (which is actually "Cool, Cool Ways") (Jerry Lee Lewis cover)

Sodai Chaengkij "Lady Madonna" (Beatles cover)
I think Sodai is my favorite, so I gave you two of her tracks.

Suda Chuenbarn "Funky Broadway" (Christian)

Traces "Je T'aime, Moi Non Plus" (Serge Gainsbourg cover)

A place nobody dared to go ... except Menudo and me.

Menudo "Xanadu" (ELO/Olivia Newton-John cover)
Oh ... my... God. My pal Louis—whose Damaged Hearing radio show you can (and should) listen to here on Tuesday afternoons and Friday nights—sent me this Holy Grail today and I'm freaking out. This is in the category of covers I knew existed and desperately wanted but hadn't been able to locate on my own. A rarity, that. I believe this is the first incarnation of Menudo (read: Ricky Melendez, not Martin) and I'm in love with the horror of it. It hits me like a cannonball.

Somewhat related—and I'm dating myself big-time here (yeah, MTV, I actually lived in a '70s house): Does anyone remember the episode of Silver Spoons where Ricky Stratton (Ricky-now-Rick Schroeder) sneaks into a hotel to convince Menudo to play at his birthday party so he can impress a girl he likes and they come out on that little train and play a song, I think, and when the song is over, the girl screams, "Ricky, I love you!" and rich-kid Ricky thinks she's talking about him, but she was really talking about Ricky in Menudo and she runs to him and hugs him and Ricky Stratton is all heartbroken? That was the shit.

Also related: Does anyone remember the little mini-videos Menudo had on ABC in the early '80s that inexplicably replaced Schoolhouse Rock, I believe, that were about the most inane subjects ever? For decades now whenever I go to a "shopping mall," I get that damned song stuck in my head. "If there's anything you like, you can always find it in the shopping mall. Made in China, Philippines ... something something something ... in a shopping mall." Dude, according to Menudo, you can even find parrots that speak French in shopping malls. I've no proof of that though. How can there not be a site somewhere dedicated to those snippets? I need MP3s and video. Desperately. Louis? Anyone?

One more thing. Spanish speakers help me out here: Am I hearing things or does this translation indicate that someone is playing an "armonica fantastico"? There wasn't a reference to a fantastic harmonica in the original, but there should have been!

We're all so famous!

So I was linked in yesterday's LA Times article on MP3 blogs, huh? I guess I should actually start posting more regularly for the next few weeks. (Which has actually been my plan now that the holiday weekend is over.) Look for some new tracks tonight.

Dance in front yo' mirror when you're on the phone.

Wang Chung "Hot in Herre" (Nelly cover)
Thanks to reader MuffinMan who was able to get me this MP3 so you can download the best cover performed on the otherwise godawful run of Hit Me Baby One More Time.

So ... in ... phase.

I know it's difficult to believe given my passions for reality TV, pop culture, retro hits and cover songs, but I haven't really been watching Hit Me Baby One More Time. I figured it would be really depressing. And from what little snippets I've seen here and there, it seems I was right. Still, I heard good things about Wang Chung's version of Nelly's "Hot in Herre." And, you know, it really was pretty good. You can hear it at WC's MySpace page. Enjoy.

I've waited hours for this.

Like all good aging hipsters, I once had a really big thing for the Cure. And it's my birthday and I have nothing better to do than relive my thing for the Cure. If you feel me on this, you should check out Plainsong.net, which features a pretty comprehensive list of "selective" covers (I think he or she means "selected," but I'll be nice since I don't think English is his/her first language) and tribute albums. I respectfully disagree with many of the author's opinions on which tribute albums and songs are worthwhile, but it's a nice list nonetheless.

From Fictional: A Tribute to the Cure

Blipp! "The Caterpillar" (Cure cover)


From Give Me the Cure: DC Bands Cover the Cure
By far the most emo/indie of the Cure tributes.

Chisel "Six Different Ways" (Cure cover)
I love Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, don't get me wrong, but oh how I miss Chisel. And this song, as well as any track on The Head on the Door, reminds me of one of the longest make-out sessions of my high school career. I think my then boyfriend (now gay, of course) let the cassette play through on automatic reverse about three times as we cavorted in his basement.

DJ Bootious Maximus "The Love Cats" (Cure cover)

Tuscadero "Boys Don't Cry" (Cure cover)

Dismemberment Plan "Close to Me" (Cure cover)


From Into a Sea of Cure (an Argentine tribute to The Cure)

Shh... "Lullaby" (Cure cover)


From Pink Pig—The Whole Cure in the Mirror
A whole bunch of Cure fans you've most likely never heard of covering every Cure song that exists.

Lucho Giesso "A Few Hours After This" (Cure cover)
Many of my favorite Cure songs were B-sides, and this is my all-time favorite. Well, not this version, which is overwrought to say the least.

Damon Boyce "A Man Inside My Mouth" (Cure cover)
Another B-side that makes me nostalgic. Sorta. My freshman year of high school, we hit the gymnastics portion of the semester and my crazy friend who was on the school dance squad made us do a routine to this song (the original, of course, as this version did not exist back then). That she chose it was cool I guess, but gym-class gymnastics routines? Not so much.


From 15 Imaginary Songs: A Tribute to the Cure

The Caves "Just Like Heaven" (Cure cover)

Morbid Poetry "Push" (Cure cover)

Decadence "Disintegration" (Cure cover)


From Disintegrated: A Hardcore Tribute to the Cure
Why?

Cave In "Plainsong" (Cure cover)

Bad Luck Thirteen Riot Extravaganza "Pictures of You" (Cure cover)
I hate shit like this, and not just because it's a cover of my least favorite Cure hit ever and not just because it's hardcore. What I hate is the idea of a band badmouthing the types of people most likely to be Cure fans on a tribute album to the Cure. Yeah, we get it, you're cool and above it all and would never shop at Hot Topic although your band name implies otherwise. You showed us!

And, you know, I never do this (or at least I've never done it before), in celebration of my own birthday, I've decided to repost a track I posted ages ago. It's one of my favorite Cure covers and you can find it here.

Chameleon, Comedian, Corinthian and Caricature.

I'm a terrible music blogger, I know. Updating only once a week? That sucks, right? But, man, I don't know how all the other MP3 bloggers do it. Daily updates? Huge essays? I'm a total slacker and I can't even find the time for that level of dedication.

I'm really going to try to post more frequently. My birthday is a week from today and I generally make my New Year's Resolutions then. Maybe I can up it to two or three entries a week for a while. Unless there's something really good on TV ...

El Nino "Reptile"< (Lisa Germano cover)
This is just one of hundreds of songs I've snagged from Musical Family Tree, a massive, ever-growing collection of MP3s from Bloomington/Indianapolis-based acts. Some of these bands are still performing and some are now defunct, but many are the bands I spent a lot of time adoring in the early/mid-1990s when I was in Bloomington. And not just because they were my friends and acquaintances. El Nino was one of said bands. And so was Lisa Germano, for a while. I miss Bloomington.

If you have the time and interest, you might find a handful of interesting covers by interesting acts in the giant MFT catalog and it would take me forever to locate, list and link them all, but I'll point you in the direction of a few:

1. Vess Ruhtenberg (United States Three, among others) and Michelle Marchessault (ex Gerunds and Sardina, both of which you should check out) performing "Blue Moon"
2. Sardina performing "Me and My Arrow," which I originally posted around this time last year.
3. Admiral Stereo has covers of "Gouge Away" and "Honey Pie," among others.

I hope at least some of you take the time to check out the music offered at that site. Jeb's got a real labor of love going on there, and I for one couldn't be more appreciative.

Five in Love "Smooth" (Santana/Rob Thomas cover)
I can't hear any version of this song without remembering the horrifically hot summer of 1999 in which I was commuting daily to the Borders in Deerfield, where I briefly worked as an interim manager. One of the worst summers of my life, though I didn't really know that at the time. I think I'm over it enough to enjoy this swingy cover though. I think ...

In Flames "Land of Confusion" (Genesis cover)
I never thought I'd say this, but more and more, I enjoy Swedish death metal.

The Minus 5 "Wicked Annabella" (Kinks cover)
A competent cover by Scott McCaughey's ever-changing chamber-pop collective. Man, I love Ken Stringfellow.

The London Punkharmonic Orchestra "Ever Fallen In Love?" (Buzzcocks cover)
Ah. Classical punk covers. Were they the catalyst for all those ridiculous "String Quartet Tributes" out there nowadays? Perhaps. But I'm not holding it against them. Hell, anything is better than the Fine Young Cannibals version.

Pop Will Eat Itself "Games Without Frontiers" (Peter Gabriel cover)
In my college dorm there was a very friendly, straight-laced looking girl named Erika who was really into bands like PWEI. It kind of freaked me out. In a good way. I like this cover way more than the original, but that's not saying much since I'm one of the few people who seem to be in the "Oh my God, I fucking hate Peter Gabriel" camp.

Replicants "The Bewlay Brothers" (David Bowie cover)
I didn't really embrace the Replicants at first, but I see now the error of my ways. This is one of my favorite Bowie songs covered in a really engaging way. Yay for that.

Ushuaia Rocks! "Pink Moon" (Nick Drake cover)
Argentine punk bands. I can never get enough.

Also: Remember the database of Smiths/Morrissey covers I posted a few entries ago? Well, here are a couple for other acts. (Note: These are databases of INFORMATION. I'm not implying that you can find the actual tracks there.)

Dylan covers

U2 covers

Weirdo-electro Monday

I've been amused by industrial and electronic covers lately, so I'm foisting them upon you. Some of these are Faustesque or Negativlandy and some are just industrogoth techno and so on. All are pretty strange.

Dimthings "Superstition" (Stevie Wonder cover)

Plastics "Last Train to Clarksville" (Monkees cover)

Coercion "Cars" (Gary Numan cover)

Jeff and Jane Hudson "The Girl [Boy] from Ipanema" (de Moraes/Gimbel/Jobim)

Sun Yama "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (Bob Dylan cover)

Second Delay "Born to be Alive" (Patrick Hernandez cover)

Dark Distant Spaces "Space Age Love Song" (Flock of Seagulls cover)

Familiar Faces "Mad World" (Tears for Fears cover)

Battery "Gangsta's Paradise" (Coolio cover)

Pinker Tone "Louie Louie" (Kingsmen cover)

Sista Mannen Pa Jordon "I Want You to Want Me" (Cheap Trick cover)

Turner "Right by Your Side" (Eurythmics cover)
Now, I'm all for a band covering a song and making it their own, but I'm not so down with someone taking the lyrics from a song and completely rewriting the music. But whatever.

I have to let that raga drop.

Sorry again for not hosting my own tracks yet this week, my ISP at home has been having issues, to say the least. [And I recently acquired a DVR unit and a record player, both of which have been monopolizing my time of late.] Until my ISP fixes itself, I hope you don't mind that I keep directing you elsewhere. For instance:

Reader Nik directed me to Music for Maniacs, an MP3 blog dedicated to outsider music which, as such, features a ton of weirdo covers. How I was unaware of this awesome blog previously is beyond me, since it's right up my alley. Right now, there are some pretty cool offerings, including but not limited to Rachid Taha's excellent cover of "Rock the Casbah," which I've been meaning to post myself for a while.

Reader Jonathan alerted me to the existence of Like a Version, a compilation of live covers recorded by Australian youth radio station triple j, which I hope to acquire soon.

Alos, I suspect many of you do this already, but if you're not getting the Coverville podcasts, you're really missing out.

A light that never goes out.

I'm not sure why I've waited this long to hip all you Smiths/Morrissey fans to Our Frank's serious obsession with amassing the largest database of Smiths/Moz tributes and covers, but better late than never, yes? I've been stealing helping myself to his files for years now on my preferred P2P, and I don't see why I should hold back on alerting you to the vastness of his collection. Impressive. And a little scary. But fucking awesome.

Baby, check this out, I've got something to say.

Sorry about the lack of posts, time keeps slipping away from me. I've been planning on posting a handful of relatively popular songs that are covers that no one seems to know are covers, but I got sidetracked.

That idea, however, was partially inspired by They Might Be Giants' version of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," which a friend referenced the other day as "the greatest song TMBG ever wrote." Yeah, well, except it was originally a quirky little hit from the '50s and they didn't write it.

Then I started thinking about how much I used to love TMBG, and started some random Googling that led me to a few TMBG-related covers already available on the ol' Internet.

For instance:

Here you can download a reworking of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople" entitled "The Disarmament Song" as sung by Ellen Bernfeld, who was the voice of the Misfits' Pizzazz on Jem and the Holograms.

The downloads section of the Media page over at the celtic/bluegrass/pop-rock band Carbon Leaf's site is full of covers, including a live version of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)."

If you scroll down to "Non-Album Tracks" on this page, you can find a scary, off-key version of "Older" by the Snot Patties. There's a Modest Mouse cover there as well.

A band called Very Low Sodium has a pretty good cover of "Destination Moon" on its site.

There was a tribute CD available at one time called We Might Be Giants Too, which I believe began as a downloadable album via TMBG.org and which I don't have. Then there was a rumor that a second was coming out. Don't know if that ever happened, but you can hear one of its potential tracks—"Moving to the Sun" as performed by Father Bingo and the Legion of Decency (as well as a Dead Milkmen cover)—here.

A hip new TMBG tribute CD is hitting the streets soon, and you can hear snippets of a few of the tracks by visiting its My Space page. I'm particularly excited to see that the CD's producer has recorded his own poppy version of my favorite TMBG track, "Narrow My Eyes." And the Hotel Lights are doing another fave, "The End of the Tour." Exciting.

On a weirder tip, I wish I had the money right now to buy steel-drum cover band (who knew?) Apocalypso's album, because I am positively dying to hear their version of "Man, It's So Loud in Here." (You can hear a few of the other non-TMBG covers over at CD Baby.)

So, yeah, that's what I have for you today. Hopefully I'll get a minute tonight to post some actual tracks for you, TMBG-related and otherwise. Hope this tides you over a bit.

We can be like they are. Come on, baby!

I've spent a good part of the weekend making my friend Jovan a multi-disc compilation of "the gayest stuff in Liza's PC"—see here and here—and I just realized I should post some stuff here too. My holiday weekend was the lamest ever. I'm sure there were barbecues and get-togethers and goings on, I just happened not to be invited to any. So, lest you believe me "cool," now you know the truth. I'm a sad, sad soul. And I will die alone. But Blue Oyster Cult knows how to console me and ready me for the end, yes? (Sorry for the lack of umlauts. I'm lazy about my HTML, yo.)

The Beautiful South "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Blue Oyster Cult cover)
Fey British jazz-pop death.

Clint Ruin and Lydia Lunch "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Blue Oyster Cult cover)
Punk-staple death.

Apollo 440 "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Blue Oyster Cult cover)
Techno-pop death.

Unto Ashes "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Blue Oyster Cult cover)
Pretty, ethereal, folk-goth death.

H.I.M. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Blue Oyster Cult cover)
Hard-rock glam-goth Finnish death.

Andy McCoy and Pelle Miljoona "Kuin Romeo Ja Julia [(Don't Fear) The Reaper]" (Blue Oyster Cult cover)
Mainstream Finnish death.

Goo Goo Dolls "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Blue Oyster Cult cover)
"Grunge" death. (Surprisingly slightly more punk-sounding than the Ruin/Lunch cover.)

Oh, and thanks again for all the Threadless love. By the way, they have a few brand-new geektastic designs up now, if you're interested. The $10 sale ends Sunday.

Other voices, other rooms.

The Live Journal Audiography community is having a covers theme right now. Head over there to find lots of people posting covers, some of which I've posted here previously and many I have not. Be warned, however, that most users in that community use You Send It to host their files, so the extraction can take a while.

Also, thanks to all of you who are still buying stuff at Threadless' $10 sale. My friends who will be getting free shirts as a result thank you.

The only thing I ever really wanted to say was wrong.

Scrawl "Public Image" (P.I.L. cover)
I used to really have a thing for Scrawl (and P.I.L., come to think of it) back in the day.

Killing Heidi "Tomorrow" (Silverchair cover)
Australian band I'd never heard of covers Australian band I wish I'd never heard of.

Tin Tin Out "Here's Where the Story Ends" (Sundays cover)
Not different enough from the original (or good enough to exist). But whatever.

Morgan Fisher as Hybrid Kids as British Standard Unit "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy" (Rod Stewart cover)
Former keyboardist for Mott the Hoople asks some friends to help him create wacky covers and makes up band names to go along with them because we needed a industro-synth version of this so desperately.

Stephan Eicher "Sweet Jane" (Velvet Underground cover)
Most covers of "Sweet Jane" are syrupy and not at all very different from the original—most of them.

That's what I'm paid for.

Themes are great and all, but I prefer random smatterings. (That and I apparently feel like testing the true strength of my bandwidth.) So here goes ...

The Konki Duet "Il Fait Tout Gris (Fade to Grey)" (Visage cover)
Electronic J-Pop with 1960s-era honey-dripping French vocal stylings? Don't mind if I do.

Bruce Willis "Under the Boardwalk" (comp. Resnick/Young)
Help us.

Shivaree "The Fat Lady of Limbourg" (Brian Eno cover)
I've been aware of Shivaree for a while now, but man, did their presence on the Kill Bill Vol. 2 soundtrack give them a real boost or what? Good for them. Any band who covers this track is at least a little okay in my book.

Shiina Ringo "Yer Blues" (Beatles cover)
I want more hard-rocking, guttural Japanese goddesses to cover songs like this.

Manic Street Preachers "We Are All Bourgeois Now" (McCarthy cover)
The band McCarthy was but a blip on my radar during its heyday in the mid to late '80s, but I liked this cover enough to reinvestigate them. Jangly and fun. Check 'em out.

Emilie Simon "I Wanna be Your Dog" (Iggy Pop cover)
I know I've been Iggy-heavy lately, but I suspect you love it.

Ronnie Ong "Buttons and Bows" (comp. Ray Evans)
WFMU says the liner notes of this one refer to Ong as "Singapore's answer to Trini Lopez." Did any one ever ask? Whatever. I'm always down for 1960s Asian fuzz rock.

Sufjan Stevens "The One I Love" (REM cover)
Dear Sufjan: Marry me. Or just meet me for coffee. Or something.

June Tabor "Pharaoh" (Richard Thompson cover)
I'm shocked by how much I like this.

Visage "2525" (Zager and Evans cover)
Before "Fade to Grey" [see above] became their biggest hit, Visage released this cover as their first single. Oh, new wave! If only it would make a comeback...

Donovan's Brain "Smothered in Hugs" (Guided by Voices cover)
This is the worst GBV cover I've ever heard. And that's saying something.

Not lame.

Sheesh. Between Comcast (whose service has been iffy at best lately) and Blogger (whose service seems to have been in and out as well) and power outages during thunderstorms, it's taken me three or four days to make this damned post. If it weren't for the fact that I was able to spend the last few days watching Freaks and Geeks DVDs, I'd have gone postal.

Aaaaaanyhow ... local reader/photographer/general cute geeky type Peter sent me these tracks from a new Cars tribute—click here to hear sample MP3s, read band descriptions and buy the disc—he helped wrangle. Nice. Many of Not Lame's cover comps (as well as it's bubblegum, psych and powerpop comps) are pretty worthwhile. I've long been a fan of Right to Chews and the like. And the 1984 Cars cocnert was the first concert I actually chose to go to.

Damone "Just What I Needed" (The Cars cover)

The Argument "Hello Again" (The Cars cover)

Bleu "You Might Think" (The Cars cover)

Not Cars-related: Parents, kids at heart and furries might be interested in checking out the Wormseye video for the Kidz Bop version of "Since U Been Gone" found here. (Thanks, Don!)

Seis de Mayo*

The Beat Boys "O Meu Tamborim (My Green Tambourine)" (Lemon Pipers cover in Portuguese)
Love it! This is from one of the Brazilian Nuggets comps, which are, for the most part, completely awesome.

Capital Inicial "O Passageiro (The Passenger)" (Iggy Pop cover in Portuguese)
If this were an American band covering this in English, I'd probably find it predictably "alternative." But Brazilian rockers are cuter, so this is much better.

Roberta Miranda "A Mulher Em Mim " (Shania Twain cover in Portuguese)
Sigh. Nothing good can come from the mediocre covering the mediocre. Even in a foreign tongue.

Rebekah Del Rio "Llorando (Crying)" (Roy Orbison cover in Spanish, from Mulholland Drive)
Even though I've read what it was all supposed to mean, I still don't really get it.

Los Rockin' Rebeldes "Danny Boy" (Traditional song in Spanish—people are still debating its original composer)
This is freaky, It starts off with a Mexican Scott Walker/Rufus Wainwright vibe and jumps into garage psych. Que sorpresa!

Los Locos del Ritmo "Hey Joe" (Jimi Hendrix cover in Spanish)
This has more a sense of immediacy to me than the original. Or maybe I've just had too much tequila. (This track as well as the one above are from Mexican Rock and Roll Psych-Out, which rules.)

Paralisis Permanente "Quiero Ser Tu Perro (I Want to be Your Dog)" (Iggy Pop cover in Spanish)
Apparently Latin American and/or Spanish grupos love Iggy. And who can blame them?

Braun (and the Mob) "Da Flash an da Funk (Flashlight)" (Parliament cover in Spanish)
Yay for glitchy funk from Germany sung in Spanish!

Selena "Fotos Y Recuerdos (Back on the Chain Gang)" (Pretenders cover in Spanish)
Ah, fair Jennifer Lopez Selena! The Spanish lyrics of this song replace the "Chain Gang" idiom with "photos and memories," thus changing the entire tone of the song—a fate I'm sure has befallen many today's selections. Pretty annoying. Had I a chance to see her perform live before her terrible fate, I'd have spent the duration of this song staring at her midriff.

Los Abandoned "Como la Flor" (Selena cover)
Speaking of Selena, she is not above reproach! Chilean/Los Angelean post-punkers rework one of her big hits (the sole track today that was originally performed in Spanish) so you can mosh to it. Or do whatever dance people at Blink-182 concerts do.

*All songs featured today are not solely by Mexican performers, but there are a couple.

I miss you like crazy.

Hey, kids, sorry about the dearth of MP3s this week, I've been a bit queasy the past few days and my priorities shifted. I'll post some soon, I promise. To tide you over until then, you might want to scroll through some of the comments people have left in my past few entries. There you should find a handful of links to strange sites sharing covers.

I never said I wasn't gonna tell nobody.

Oh my god. New Copy, Right? reader Brad Walsh (thanks, ultragrrrl for linking me so he could find me!) has made me ecstatic by letting me in on his electro covers. That anyone would cover Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts" in the first place makes me giddy. That it's actually cool makes it even better. (Does anyone remember Stacey's stint as Cinnamon of The Facts of Life? That was the shit.) And though Crystal Waters' "100% Pure Love" is one of my most hated songs (still not as much as the homeless song), his cover is amusingly refreshing. Check out those covers as well as a few more on his music page. And, while you're there, why not try some remixes and originals too?

I'll probably post some new tracks by Tuesday night.

I know just what it takes to make a pro blush.

Mini Pops "Bette Davis Eyes" (Kim Carnes cover)
Decades before Kidz Bop came along and tried to convince us that kids responded better to today's pop hits when an untalented non-famous adult sang it with a group of kids cheering in the background, there was a group of actual British kids rerecording hits of their era. Apparently the group's producers (go K-tel!) thought getting 8-year-olds to seductively sing songs about a manipulative woman who fucks guys on the floor of her apartment was an awesome idea. And they were so wrong they were almost right. Seriously, if has anyone out there has Mini Pops LPs (or 8-tracks!) and can convert them to MP3s and send them to me, I'd ... well, I don't know what I would do. But I'd be ecstatic. (Thanks, Mark, for this one!)

Gwyneth Paltrow "Bette Davis Eyes" (Kim Carnes cover, from Duets)
And this version is even more disturbing!

Also—not related to kids (or celebrities) singing adult themed-songs but related to covers in general—Steve over at Domino Rally has the Bad Plus doing Iron Man, y'all.

I have people all over the world working for me for free!

Reader Tarek just alerted me that local emo types Canasta have a handful of covers, live and otherwise, available on their audio page—including a pretty little cover of one of my favorite '80s one-hit wonders, Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)." (Actually, I quite enjoyed his "World of Lust and Crime" as well, but no one I know seems to remember that.)

Reader Skott sent a track my way that's kinda interesting (especially if you, like me, are a fan of the Vocoder): David Torn's sons Elijah and Cody covering Alicia Keys' "Falling."

And, you're not going to believe this one, but a record label rep actually sent me something covers-related! Usually I get the standard "Hi, my name's Schmo and I'm a big fan of your site. Please check out [insert sucky band who has no covers available] and consider promoting them for me" crap that I suspect all MP3 bloggers get. But Sean from Redder Records let me in on a few new Kind of Like Spitting (whose covers I quite often enjoy, even!) covers available here. Wonders never cease!

They never wanted to kill; they are not naturally evil ... such things they do just to make themselves more attractive to you. Have they failed?

Alison Moyet "There are Worse Things I Could Do" (from Grease)
I can think of no blue-eyed soul songstress I'd rather hear cover this bad-girls-have-hearts-too classic.

Dogstar "Superstar" (Carpenters cover)
Ah, Keanu. You know it's bad when you're playing bass for a band that probably could've been as successful as Matchbox 20 if only they had half an ounce of charisma. Or a quarter ounce of eyeliner.

J. Church "Last of the Famous international Playboys" (Morrissey cover)
I don't care for this punk cover, but I am glad to see bands covering my favorite Morrissey song.

Rabbit in the Moon "Waiting for the Night" (Depeche Mode cover)
It's a cheesy thing to admit, but I'll have you know that Depeche Mode's Violator was the soundtrack to nearly all of my masturbation from the end of my senior year of high school through to the beginning of my freshman year of college. What a dork I was. [Ponders a blog dedicated to teenage alt.Liza's masturbation songs ... thinks better of it.] This version from Florida's most popular [only?] trancesters is pretty good for what it is. Especially if you've just taken two Vicodin and have a lot of candles burning.

Sexy Sadie "Moonage Daydream" (David Bowie cover)
Speaking of sex:

Dear hot Spanish boys,

You may serenade me with David Bowie anytime. Then we will dance on the beach and have a menage a trois. Or tres. Or quatro. Or cinco. Or whatever. I'm perpetually ready and willing to be tu mama tambien. [Pardon the lack of accent marks. I'm too lazy to look up the proper HTML.]

Love, Liza

Toonces "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (Cyndi Lauper cover)
I can't find any info online about Toonces. Are they Japanese? German? Finnish? Or simply the product of a Cover Fight? Anyone?

I'll never understand why so many people prefer to be catty when it's just as easy to be nice.

So, someone is calling me out in another blog's comments because, supposedly, the files I'm sharing have viruses. This, of course, is news to me. Hell, I didn't even know it was possible for MP3s to have viruses in them. Does this mean I'm stupid? Perhaps. But I scan my computer (including the folders with MP3s in them) for viruses on a regular basis with regularly updated anti-virus software and I've yet to have anything alert me to viruses. So, if you can shed some light on how this all works by letting me know directly or by giving me some solutions to remedy any perceived problems so that I might fix them, that would be most appreciated. Or maybe you could tell me what proof you have that my files have viruses or tell me which files they are. Or, if you prefer, you can choose the less friendly, totally prickish route and just go badmouthing me elsewhere for something I was completely unaware of.

So, yeah. I would be grateful for any helpful input on this matter.

Let me walk down the highway with my brother in peace.

Hey, kids. A random insomnia-inspired Googling of an old friend—who was once in my best pal Ryan's band back in the day in Bloomington, Indiana—led me to her current band's website, where you can download a cover of her singing Bob Dylan's "Let Me Die in My Footsteps." I knew she was in Chicago since I ran into her a year or so ago at a sushi bar, but haven't made it out to see her band yet. It's now on my to-do list. So, yeah, check it out. Ami has a fucking fantastic voice.

And, while we're talking about my old musical pals from my days in Bloomington and their cover songs, PJ from Sardina—a band I've talked about at length in past entries—has a slew of covers available for download here. (A selection which includes the "Me and My Arrow" cover I once posted last year.)

Oh, and as for friends of the online variety, it's Joy Division cover season over at Spoilt Victorian Child.

It's the best I can do.

It's not my intention, really, to keep up with the one-band megasong entries, but I've had Abba in my head the past few days and, seriously, Abba has to be one of the top three most-covered acts of all time and it's hard to narrow it down to one or two tracks. (Plus, I've been so busy the past few weeks, I haven't been able to post as much as I'd like in general.) I could start an Abba cover site and post eight songs a day for a year and there'd still be millions more. Metal, country, new age, Broadway, teen pop, rockabilly, goth, indie acts? They all cover Abba.

Lush "Hey Hey Helen" (Abba cover)
One of my favorite Abba covers by far. I miss Lush.

A*Teens "Our Last Summer" (Abba cover)
The original version of this song was the one stuck in my head earlier this week. As a child in the late '70s, I wore my Abba albums out and quickly tired of the bigger hits. This song was my first introduction to the pronunciation of Parisian landmarks and may well have been what prompted me to study French instead of German or Spanish once I hit middle school. This song is super-sappy, hence its appeal to an 8-year-old. But, even at 8, the line "and now you're working in a bank/ the family man, the football fan/ and your name is Harry" perplexed me. Had he changed his name since that summer in Paris? I chalked it up to English not being Abba's first language. Aaaanyhow, this song is more obscure than most Abba songs covered, so of course it would be done by one of the most perplexing Abba tribute acts. It seems these young Swedes wanted to experience the same level of fame as their elder countrymen and chose to do so by paying homage to Abba by totally ripping them off. And to think I missed the opportunity of posting this on March 7, which—according to various fan sites— was "International Day of A*Teens World-Wide"!

Mad Heads "Money, Money, Money" (Abba cover)
Ukranian psychobilly, eh? Okay.

Yngwie Malmsteen "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" (Abba cover)
Aaah, Yngwie! Always rousing us with his lick-filled covers!

Therion "Summernight City" (Abba cover)
Another Swedish band paying homage to their forefathers via gothy Ozzy-influenced death metal.

Gheorghe Zamfir and Dana Dragomir "Chiquitita" (Abba cover)
It's spring in Chicago and you know what that means: Any day now you can expect to hear pan flute wafting up the city streets into your office from the arts and crafts tent fair below. But Zamfir, it ain't. Pan flute at Chicago street fairs is usually South American. This is pan flute from my Romanian brethren. (Although Dana, the world's first female professional pan flautist, currently resides in Abba's Sweden.) Bow before Zamfir, master of the pan flute!

Sensitive New Age Cowpersons "Dancing Queen" (Abba cover)
The scariest four-word combination in the world: Australian bluegrass comic musicians.

Evan Dando "Knowing Me, Knowing You" (Abba cover)
I've made lots of fun of Evan Dando in my day. I'm guessing this is because everyone I've met who looks like him has been either an asshole or a total freak (or both) and because everyone I've ever met who lists the Lemonheads as a favorite act has been either an asshole or a total freak (or both). But that's not really Evan's fault. Is it?

He hit me, but I knew he loved me.

Twice now I've begun writing my newest post, only to have the following message pop up as I'm attempting to save the drafts:

"The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, support@blogger.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error."

Um. Blogger has a lot of nerve trying to blame me.

Let them know we tried.

You know, so far I think the best Google search term with the potential to lead people to my site is "Blake Babies slash." Also, I appreciate all the cover suggestions I've been receiving lately, but—at the risk of approaching the height of snobbery—keep in mind whom you're dealing with. You have to search long and hard to find covers I don't already have or know about. I mean, really, I talked about Dokaka's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" almost a year ago. It's the covers equivalent of commenting to Matthew Perpetua and trying to turn him onto a "new" acts like LCD Soundsystem or the Bloc Party. /end good-natured tongue-in-cheekiness

Yeah. I'll probably start posting again on a more regular basis after the weekend. I just had insomnia so I thought I'd check in.

Aw, what the hell, here's something with which to horrify yourselves:

Mark Oh "When the Children Cry" (White Lion cover)
See, Darwin? Those techno-trance freaks will co-opt anything.

Load up on guns and bring your friends.

A week ago today marked the 11th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's suicide*. (Or murder, if you're one of those irrational freaks in the "Courtney killed him" camp.) Yeah. I don't really care—since depsite liking them I was always shocked at how immensely successful they became and because it annoys me when people with unlimited financial resources are somehow incapable of finding help—but here are a slew of Nirvana covers anyhow. Man, there sure are a lot of Nirvana covers. It was difficult to narrow it down to these lucky 13. (I figure I might as well celebrate my webspace by testing it with as many downloads as possible!)

*And, sadly, this prediction appears not to have come true.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit"

The Bad Plus

Nonex

Rumal Noorkuu

The Scala Choir

"Come As You Are"

Dani Siciliano

Pink Freud

"All Apologies"

Herbie Hancock

Sinead O'Connor

"Verse Chorus Verse"

Scout Niblett

"Breed"

Steve Earle

"On a Plain"

Rogue Wave

"Rape Me"

Richard Cheese

"Heart-Shaped Box"

Evanescence

Patience, my pretties.

Well, brainiac that I am, I figured out how to be able post more stuff. Why not use the same super deal I used previously for my domain/webspace to create another domain/webspace? Yeah, I'm quick. So, as soon as the 12- to 48-hour span of time it takes for the Internet to recognize the domain passes, those Nirvana covers (and others, no doubt) shall surface.

I always suspected there would be drawbacks to being popular.

So, it looks as if I've exceeded (or am close to exceeding) my host's allowed transfers for the month. This would be fine if said host would disallow transfers once I hit the maximum, but instead said host will allow people to keep downloading and simply charge me money I can't afford in order that they may do so. For obvious reasons, that doesn't sit well with me and I've changed the settings so this won't happen in the future. But, for now, I've removed all mp3s from my host's server and the links below that look active actually aren't. Don't worry, the Nirvana stuff I posted earlier will return in a week or so. I guess I got a little overzealous and didn't realize how many people actually read my various sites. The good with the bad, you know?

Almost immediately, I felt sorry.

Man, it's already Wednesday? I keep waiting for a moment to create a post chock-full of witty insights, and I can't find it. So now it's on you.

2 Play feat. Juxci D "Careless Whisper" (Wham! cover)

Alkaline Trio "Metro" (Berlin cover)

Operation Cliff Clavin "Fuck and Run" (Liz Phair cover)

Delerium "Justify My Love" (Madonna cover)

Trespassers William "Vapour Trail" (Ride cover)

The April fools.

This is all a terrible joke. None of these are real.

Don Johnson "Tell it Like It Is" (Davis/Diamond)

Andy Gibb and Victoria Principal "All I Have to Do is Dream" (Everly Brothers cover)

Claudine Longet "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" (Leonard Cohen cover)

Dave Stewart (not the one from the Eurythmics) and Barbara Gaskin "It's My Party" (Lesley Gore cover)

Barry Williams (aka Greg Brady, aka Johnny Bravo) "We Are the Champions" (Queen cover)

The Motels "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" (Crystals cover)

Tiny Tim w/Brave Combo "Hey Jude" (Beatles cover)

I feel so unsteady, oh, Tuscadero, I miss you already.

Downloadable tribute to Teenbeat Records.
Thanks, Stephen.

I am the eye in the sky.

I don't get to alert you often enough when it happens, but Womenfolk has a new "Cover Girls" entry up now.

Barely related: How on earth did I survive before Down Them All? And where on earth will I find the time to actually take in all this music? MP3 bloggers are taking over the world!!!

Have you waited so long for your love vibration?

Then, by all means, let Jennifer Love Hewitt help you out.

Funny, this doesn't make me want to dance or masturbate. Maybe shove pencils in my ears though.
Thanks, Louis.

Oh, how I rock in Keds and tube socks.

Superchunk "Beat My Guest" (Adam and the Ants cover)
Mac McCaughan wouldn't even have to pay me to dominate him. I think he's sexy and I love Adam Ant. I have no idea why I'd have waited this long to post this.

All Saints "Under the Bridge" (Red Hot Chili Peppers cover)
I don't even like Red Hot Chili Peppers and still I'm horrified by this massacre.

The Scala Choir "She Hates Me" (Puddle of Mudd cover)
Everyone has posted Scala's "I Touch Myself." I think I might've back when I first started this blog. (Which was more than a year ago, I can't believe it!) Anyhow, I like this cover better. I dislike Puddle of Mudd immensely, but I like hearing choirs sing the word fuck and variations thereof.

Clutch "Money" (Pink Floyd cover)
Clutch is my friend Eric's favorite band. This isn't exactly my kind of music, but having seen his Clutch sweatshirt many times, I can say that I like their logo. And, actually, I think this cover is kinda sexy. Yes. I said sexy. I like burly, tough-sounding guys.

Mr. Big "Wild World" (Cat Stevens cover)
Never in a million years would I have imagined I'd post Mr. Big covering something and that it wouldn't be the worst song of the lot. Say what you will, but those boys can harmonize. All Saints, you'd do well to follow their lead.

Pastel Vespa "Teenage Dirtbag" (Wheatus cover)

Wheatus "A Little Respect" (Erasure cover)
I was only vaguely aware of Wheatus' "Teenage Dirtbag" during its heyday and likely wrote it off as innocuous whiny pop drivel. Pastel Vespa's version is so hot it almost makes me like the original. And then I hear Wheatus' rendition of "A Little Respect" and I'm back at one.

Les Schtroumpfs (which are French—and/or French-Canadian—Smurfs) "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love (um, sort of)" (Solomon Burke, uh, cover)
God help us. "Schtroumpfez le blues, blues, blues/Avec nous, nous, nous"? Uh. D'accord.

How big a star do you have to be before you start a side project?

Oh yeeeah!

Atom feed.

You think I'd leave your side, baby? You know me better than that.

Groove Coverage "The Last Unicorn" (America cover)
Oh, man. A few months ago, I saw the VHS of The Last Unicorn on my good pal Nate's shelf, and asked if I could borrow it. I remember seeing it on cable all the time as a kid, but couldn't remember any real specifics. I suspected it would all come back to me as I watched, and I was right. Before I popped it in, I had completely forgotten about the America-penned soundtrack, but once it was on, I was singing along to the cheese. Also while watching and singing along, I innately knew that somewhere there must be a horrific cover of the title song, and I suspected it would be in the techno-trance vein. Once again, I was right.

Nate says: "This is a total rave song created so twentysomethings on X can hear it while they're dancing and think, 'Oh, yeeeeah! I remember this!' and think that they're somehow interconnected with the cosmos."

Mary Hopkin "Happiness Runs (which itself is a reworking of The Pebble and the Man)" (Donovan cover)
I'm always torn when I hear a song I like in a TV commercial. Should I be horrified that "my" song is being used to sell airline tickets or should I be happy to reminded of its existence in the first place? With this Donovan track, I'd say the latter. And Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin's Paul McCartney-produced cover is pretty and worthwhile, in my opinion.

Stiv. Bators "It's Cold Outside" (The Choir cover)
The Choir's "It's Cold Outside" is my favorite track in the Nuggets catalog. And this was Dead Boys' frontman Stiv Bators' first solo single. Or so I read somewhere. It's pretty good.

Bettie Serveert "Lover, I Don't Have to Love" (Bright Eyes cover)
Someone asked for this in a comment the other day, and though I usually don't take requests, I like Bettie Serveert a lot and figured, "What the heck." I like this more than the original, but that's easily explained as I'm not a huge emo fan.

Beachwood Sparks "By Your Side" (Sade cover)
I was never a huge Sade fan, but there was always something kind of haunting and mesmerizing about this track to me. This version is even more up my alley.

Cash Money Millionaires "Feelin' On Yo' Booty (Remix)" (R. Kelly cover)
Wow. You know you've got a jam on your hands when people want to cover a remix of one of your songs. Seriously, this is not for everyone. Kelly's remix is one of my biggest guilty pleasures due to its sheer wrongness, and the Cash Money Millionaires version is somehow even shadier.

They don't love you like I love you.

Hey, kids, Ben put up a couple of covers yesterday, if you're interested.

Similarly, Dylan has an alternate version of The Streets' "Fit But You Know It, a song I love, with the Futureheads as the backing band.

I wish I could post links to every MP3 blog that's posting covers on a given day, but considering the sheer numbers of MP3 blogs out there and most bloggers' predilection toward covers, that's more of an undertaking for a someone without a job and/or life. But I try from time to time.

I'll probably post some tracks later tonight (or from work tomorrow since it'll probably be slow what with all the art students on Spring Break and all).

Also: All you cool kids who are getting a chance to see The Go! Team completely suck and I hate you. Not really, of course.

Aw, hells no!

I don't usually make posts of this nature, nor do I have to because most of you readers leave friendly comments, but today I'm in a mood, so get ready:

If you're going to be an asshole in your comments to me and try to make me look like an idiot, you better be fucking sure you've got your facts straight. So, Mr. or Ms. "Some Music Snob" who thought you were schooling me on "Kiss Me Deadly," let me let you in on a little secret: You're wrong! Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong!!!

But, while we're on the topic, seriously, people, as knowledgeable as I like to believe I am, I am not a rock historian. I'm a chick (who doesn't work in a music-related field) who happens to have an MP3 blog and who also happens to be human. I make mistakes sometimes, and those of you who frequently read my site know that I freely admit when I've goofed and make edits as necessary. So there's no need to be a giant prick to me—especially if you're too lazy or stupid to do any sort of fact checking to make sure you know what in the hell you're talking about first.

It ain't the way that you shake me.

Eileen "Ces Bottes sont Faites pour Marcher (These Boots are Made for Walking)" (French Nancy Sinatra cover)
This sounds exactly as you would imagine it might: It's a perfect ye-ye girl version, nearly identical to the original except in French. Delightful.

The Futureheads "The Hounds of Love" (Kate Bush cover)
This far surpasses all of the other covers of this song I've heard. Granted, I'm a sucker for this post-punk/new-wave renaissance we've been in the past year or two, but even if you're not, you have to be pretty impressed by how perfectly timed the "woah ohs" are. Also, you can check out the video here.

Mansfield feat. Yukari Fresh "The New Pollution" (Beck cover)
One of my favorite covers I ever posted here was Low IQ 01 & Yukari Fresh's version of "Anarchy in the UK," so I was overjoyed to stumble on another cover involving Yukari Fresh. Of course, unlike "Anarchy," Beck's original "New Pollution" is already a little pastiche of bossa and samba, so it's not much of a stretch to run with that, but it's a fun reworking nonetheless.

Johnny Socko "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" (Night Ranger cover)
We all have our local guilty pleasure bar bands when we're in college, yes? Well, Johnny Socko was mine. I always felt I shouldn't have liked them, but I just couldn't help myself. Of course, this was in the early '90s just before the pseudo-ska wave really hit big. And Johnny Socko was a fun pseudo-ska band full of fun guys who did a lot of covers, as well as quirky originals. The covers I remember them doing regularly back in the day were classics such as Lou Rawls' "You'll Never Find" and the Charlie Daniels Band's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." They used to have prizes for audience members who danced the most, and I won on several occasions, which seems completely foreign to me now. Once I won an awesome jackpot prize that included a giant Christmas stocking full of tacky Coors Light promo junk (wall clocks, foam things to keep your beers cold, cushions for sporting event seats, etc.) and, more importantly, a free year pass to the Bluebird, a bar at which Socko frequently played. (Seriously, there is no better present to a poor gal who just turned 21 than a free pass to one of the most prominent bars in town.) I had a good rapport with the lead singer at the time, Mike Wiltrout (pictured here), and openly lusted after Charlie the trombonist. (Where are you, my love???) Another prize-winning night involved me getting on stage and Mike daring me to lather up my face and shave it with a razor they happened to have handy for some reason. Of course, I complied. And, for a while there, the band included the phenomenal bass playing of Brent Olds (later of Poi Dog Pondering and Wanamaker), who was amazing to watch. They were super-nice people.

All of that said ... while I'm sure they're still nice guys, the Johnny Socko you hear here is not the Socko of my youth. Yeah, a few of the members are original, but as far as I can tell they have nowhere near the talent or charisma as the Socko cast of yore. This is your standard case of a college band turning itself, like the Mike & Joes and Mr. Blottos before them, into a frat-bar franchise and not realizing when to call it quits. So, you've been warned. (Know, however, that this track is far better than the original songs modern-day Socko churns out.) This track comes from Metalliska, a "ska" tribute to metal bands (is Night Ranger metal?) that had a few decent tracks on it. Like it or leave it. I just wanted to reminisce a bit.

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup.

My favorite local cable access music video showcase, Ken Mottet's The Otherside, just showed the video for my gay boyfriend Rufus Wainwright's version of the Beatles' "Across the Universe," which was a byproduct of the horrible movie I Am Sam and which I'd not seen previously. (That was a long sentence!) Aaaaaaaaanyway, it's equally cool (Rufus is sexy and suspended looks as if he's suspended in mid-air) and lame (it "stars" that creepy Village of the Damned-looking Dakota Fanning and uses a variation on that once-cool/now-cheesy Schindler's Listian red-against-a-B&W-backdrop effect—not to mention it's use of the classic '80s "I know! There are paintings on easels in that room, let's frame part of the video inside them!" brilliance). Heh. Another super-long sentence. Aaaaaaaaaanyhow, you can see it for yourselves right here.

It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.

Holly Beth Vincent* "Chapel of Love" (comp. Barry/Greenwich/Spector)
Holly Beth Vincent (and the Italians, in some cases) had a handful of cover songs back in the day. Hell, I just saw her version of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" on VH1 Classics the other day and completely freaked out with middle-school flashbacks. New-wave covers of '60s hits make me happy.

*This track comes from an album titled Holly & the Italians, but is actually Vincent's solo project she was forced into by her Virgin contract.

Coheed and Cambria "Sister Christian" (Night Ranger cover)
Not surprising to see a band who regularly borrows from the rock stylings of 1980s supergroups (could this guy sound more like Geddy Lee?) covering this track. It is surprising, however, that I like it so much.

Pipilotti Rist "Wicked Game" (Chris Isaak cover)
Regular Copy, Right? reader Nicky sent this my way the other day, and I'm quite pleased. I had no idea that Swiss media artist Pipilotti Rist recorded any songs, let alone covers. Apparently she uses this as a backing track in one of her oceanic video installations, which I'm now dying to see. Obviously influenced by the sound recordings of Yoko Ono, Rist's "Wicked Game" is perfect to me considering how often I myself have wanted to start screaming in pain by the time this song gets to the end.

Petra Haden "Heinz Baked Beans" (The Who cover)

Petra Haden "I Can See for Miles" (The Who cover)
I like Petra Haden. Really. And I think it's, um, interesting that she covered the entire The Who Sell Out album acappella. Really. I'm just not certain it's something I'd want to listen to more than once.

I need all the world to confirm that I ain't lonely.

Placebo "Johnny and Mary" (Robert Palmer cover)

The Notwist "Johnny and Mary" (Robert Palmer cover)
I was vaguely aware of the original (which you can get on this page of one of my favorite MP3 blogs ever) "Johnny and Mary" as a child, but was shocked to learn later in life (post-"Addicted to Love," of course) that it was by Robert Palmer. I remembered Palmer in that "Clues" video, and I found him smarmy as hell. Anyhow, this song helps me understand why John Taylor liked him. I couldn't decide which of these covers to post (there are a lot more where these came from, by the way), so I went for both. Placebo's is your standard head-on, driving, whiny Placebo cover (not that there's anything wrong with that!) while the Notwist's builds from some soft strange little Parisian-sounding organ-grinder dirge into an indie powerpop speed metal trip that ends with a bizarre spoken-word answering machine message. Yes, you read right.

More stuff coming very soon.